Summary: This study provides functional and physiological evidence for the existence of ABCC-like efflux transporters in (gastropod) neurons and reports age-associated decline in the extrusion capacity of these transporters.

Summary: Many insects quickly enhance their cold tolerance with a plastic response called rapid cold hardening, and here we demonstrate that cultured Drosophila cells are capable of this impressive phenotype.

Summary: Bats affected by high atmospheric absorption adjust their vocalizations in a non-logarithmic fashion to maximize echo-to-noise ratio at long ranges and to avoid high echo levels when close to a target.

Summary: Hummingbirds alter fat turnover rates seasonally, with faster turnover during the summer, when they are lighter and have high daily energy expenditure. However, the preference for glucose as a substrate for fatty acid synthesis over fructose does not change seasonally.

Summary: Force enhancement and force depression are reduced in muscles from mice with a deletion in N2A titin, suggesting that titin plays a role in history-dependent muscle properties that contribute to natural movements.

Summary: The blue-spotted mudskipper routinely switches between aquatic and aerial respiration. This respiratory versatility is associated with properties of hemoglobin–oxygen transport that are similar to those found in hypoxia-adapted water-breathing fishes.

Summary:Loxosceles laeta has monochromatic vision with a spectral range between the ultraviolet and green and no eye type- or sex-specific spectral specializations, evidenced using electroretinogram and behavioral assays.

Summary: CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of the Na+/H+ exchanger Nhe3b has no effect on Na+ uptake in larval zebrafish. H+-ATPase and Na+-Cl−-cotransporter are not responsible for maintaining Na+ uptake in nhe3b knockout mutants.

Summary: Hypoxia-seeking behavior in an amphibious fish out of water can accentuate metabolic depression, which may consequently protect energy reserves, as well as skeletal muscle structure and function during seasonal droughts.

Summary:In situ and manipulation experiments in wandering gartersnakes show plasma glucose is elevated during acute stress, but corticosterone concentrations are not tightly correlated with glucose concentrations.

Summary: Suction adhesion plays an important role in the function of a gliding joint in squid, preventing the joint surfaces from being disarticulated yet allowing sliding motions with minimal resistance.

Other journals from The Company of Biologists

Editor-in-Chief Hans Hoppeler and Monitoring Editor Craig Franklin highlight new initiatives at JEB in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To continue advancing knowledge in the field, we are encouraging proposals for meta-analysis papers and timely Reviews and Commentaries within the JEB remit. New grant categories analogous to the Travelling Fellowships will fund collaborative data projects and the development of online resources for early-career researchers. Read their Editorial to find out more.

In their Review, Hanane Hadj-Moussa and Ken Storey assess OxymiRs in over 20 animal species. They reveal a lack of universal microRNA strategy, showing that instead there are species-specific responses to oxygen deprivation.

Researchers at nine institutions in Ireland can now publish an unlimited number of Open Access articles in JEB, immediately and at no cost to them, following a three-year Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and IReL. Find out more and see the growing list of participating institutions.

We are expanding the Conversation series to focus on the experiences of researchers out in the field. We’ll go behind the scenes as researchers tell us about their experiences on trawlers, in deserts, up mountains and in the remotest regions of the poles. Find out more about the series in the Editorial.

In the first interview, JEB author and editor Craig Franklin talks about the risks and challenges of working in remote areas with animals in their natural environment.